Who is the largest-selling forgotten musical artist/band?

I highly doubt they will be forgotten by serious music lovers.

 

I play Seger's albums as regularly as any other artist.

 

Fair points!

 

Love it, personally!

 

Queensrÿche. And I say this as someone who only knows of their existence because I saw a list of top selling rock bands a few years ago and thought their name was a typo...

 

The snubbing is not for that reason. There are other non-songwriters in the HOF. The biggest one being Elvis.
The hall has a grudge against them for other reasons that only they know. TDN deserves to be inducted, but most likely will never
be. Steppenwolf is being snubbed also. Makes no sense.

 

I don’t know but it seems that Dave Clark is doing a everything humanly possible to keep any future music fans from knowing how very good they were when they burst upon the scene. Too bad...that probably will be the last hole in my music collection.

 

Russell Crowe, Thirty odd foot of grunt (or whatever they were called)

 

Some people are answering the question posed in the thread title:

Who is the largest-selling forgotten musical artist/band?

And they are responding by listing the top-selling artists, and then
selecting the one they believe to be "most forgotten."

Well, I saw those lists, and it is pretty cut and dry that Chicago is
by far the best seller, due to decades of releases, and multiple
automatic million sellers throughout their heyday in the 70's.

But it's no fun to settle a debate this way, so, on we go! Haha!



Others are responding to this expository remark in the original post:

"And when I say forgotten... I'm talking about by new generations that
are not likely to go back and explore these forgotten artists."

So, not a question of what the artists are doing now, but how/why do you believe
that they will be forgotten by new generations in the future.

I fall into this camp. Here is the list I suggested, with (new!) brief explanations as
to why I don't think they'll be remembered moving forward.

Culture Club - popularity boosted by a factor of X due to a charismatic, confident and controversial frontman
Partridge Family - despite having the cachet of all music provided by The Wrecking Crew, they were but a TV show
KISS - Never recovered from the 1977-onward revelation that their main appeal had become a little kid's attraction
The Jackson Five - small clutch of hits early on, so overwhelmed by Thriller and all things Michael, just a footnote now
Linda Ronstadt - Success as a cover act, and, with risible versions of Tumbling Dice, Alison and Ooh Baby Baby, not a great one
KC & the Sunshine Band - Just behind the Bee Gees as the white face of disco, sans the quality of the Bee Gees, only the disco millstone
Billy Idol - the palatable face of punk, boosted only by several great MTV-in-its-prime-as-hitmakers videos




While others still are adding to the OP's list:

"Some that come to mind right away are Grand Funk, Loverboy, Air Supply,
Huey Lewis, Styx, etc."

Since record sales don't matter anymore, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to
know what streaming channels/services are more popular than others, the responses
have been keying on the popularity of their live shows/touring schedule, if any.

Which is a fun game to play! We all know full well that Styx, Loverboy and Air Supply
were never the largest-selling artist that is "forgotten," but it's a blast to say how much
you remember a beloved artist whose name you can't spell, lament missing a concert by
a band you would have loved to have seen (only to find out they'll be in town next week
to sate your fanboy needs,) and to posit that Alice Cooper, age 71, has really fallen off
because he doesn't sell out stadiums like he did 46 years ago when his album was #1!


Here is a Top Three Countdown as to why Three Dog Night has been so marginalized:

3. Major schism between two of the three dogs and the third, who sang the biggest hits

2. There best-known-biggest-hit song, by far, has aged the worst, by far (Joy to the World)

1. They were not included in the "in crowd" of classic rock artists, shutting them out of
massive airplay in the dominant radio format of the past 30 years, and keeping them off
of package tours with other groups who made the cut. Who made that decision? Why
am I classically rocking out to "Say You Love Me" and "Dreams" instead of "Eli's Coming"
and "Easy to Be Hard?"

 

Good question. Don't know. I still listen to TDN albums on a semi-regular basis. I'm sure there are others who do also.

 

I glanced through the thread and I might've (probably) missed it but Blood, Sweat & Tears might be a candidate.

 

On that we agree!

The whole "MTV killed Christopher Cross's career" theme has come up previously here - IIRC, we had a long, contentious thread about it a while back.

Some people want to believe that prior to 1981, music was a true meritocracy where only talent mattered and looks were irrelevant, and then videos meant only attractive people had hits.

They're wrong! If Phil Collins could become a superstar in the MTV era, then there's no reason to claim Cross's looks doomed him!

 

It just might be possible that Enya will wind up owning this thread.

From Wikipedia:

Enya is known for her privacy and has never undertaken a concert tour. She is Ireland's bestselling solo artist and bestselling artist behind U2, with a discography that has sold 26.5 million certified albums in the United States and an estimated 80 million records worldwide, making her one of the bestselling music artists of all time.

 

Because you are comparing covers to original material and want to hear original stuff?

Joy to the world has become a kids, and commercial song too, a standard basically.

 

As long as masseuses need something to play in the background, Enya will not go forgotten!

 

They no longer tour outside the US as I don't think it would be financially viable.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I see that Ringo & His All-Starr Band is playing the casino & theatre circuit this summer. And you know what that means.

 

1.Louis Armstrong Hot Fives & Sevens...remains America's greatest musician & musical treasure almost 100 years later

2.The Count Basie Orchestra...King Of Swing, the genre might have faded but Basie kept right on swinging until his death

3.Frank Sinatra...until Elvis nobody came close, his original fan base kept his music alive for subsequent generations to enjoy

4.Ray Charles...a towering inescapable figure in RocknRoll whose influence continues to diminish except to his most dedicated fan base...

For a taste of Ray's greatness check out "A 25th Anniversary in Show Business Salute to RC" (1971)

A 2LP set of 36 bonafide Ray Charles hits, a mind blowing accomplishment indeed

5.Fats Domino....2nd only to Elvis in sales during 1956-1962

5.ABB (Duane era)...there for a time during the early 70s they were known as "Worlds Most Popular Band"

6.Deep Purple...the early part of the 70s saw the band 2nd only to Led Zeppelin for the heavier rock crown

7.Rod Stewart...most folk have forgotten or too young to recall the urgency of how great "Rod The Mod" was during the late 60s- 1976, he really is RocknRoll's greatest living lose

 

Hit any retro party 20 years from now and you will still hear KC.
No way is he forgotten!

 

Queen, unfortunately, never fully recovered from "Hot Space" in the U.S. After that album, their career went into a downward trajectory. But it didn't matter, because like Brian May said, "We were so popular every else we didn't even notice we lost popularity in America."

 

Great post. I totally agree. The "Rock Me Tonite" video wasn't any worse than a lot of rock artists/bands' videos in the '80s IMO.

 

Only two, actually. "Picture This" did okay, but "Sports" and "Fore" were their big selling albums.

 

"Forever Your Girl" is still one of the best selling debut albums by a female artist. From 1989-1991, Paula had six No. 1 hits, which is more than a lot of legends have.

She currently has a Vegas residency at the Flamingo. I think it's great that she was able to even book a residency given that she only recorded three albums, and only two of them, "Forever Your Girl" and "Spellbound" were successful.

 

Yep. Jonas Brothers are currently doing a sold out tour. B2K, an R&B boyband of the early 2000s, did a sold out tour this Spring, and BTS are huge all over the world.

 

You seriously believe Elvis is forgotten? His popularity may not be what it was 30 or 40 years ago due to the baby boomer generation getting older and dying, but he's still the "King of Rock 'n Roll" and always will be.